Delhi court acquits man in rape case, says complainant turned hostile

New Delhi: A court has acquitted a man in a rape case after noting that the complainant, who was the best possible person to prove the allegations, resiled from her allegations and turned hostile to the prosecution's case.

Additional Sessions Judge Surya Malik Grover was hearing the case in which the New Friends Colony police station had registered a case against the man for penal provisions of committing repeated rape, criminal intimidation and cheating.

According to the FIR, the man forcibly established physical relations with the complainant repeatedly after giving her a false promise of marriage.

In the verdict passed last month, the court said, "In the present case, the star witness was the prosecutrix and the prosecution machinery came into motion after her complaint. She did not support the prosecution's case in any manner and turned hostile."

It said the allegation against the accused was that he forcibly committed sexual intercourse with the prosecutrix after giving her a false promise of marriage. But in her deposition, she said both were in a relationship and physical relations between them had been established consensually, it observed.

The court noted that the prosecutrix also testified that the accused never promised to marry her.

"Needless to say, the prosecution case has collapsed completely, as even the police complaint, on the face of it was weak and lop-sided and did not establish a case of rape on the false promise of marriage, as it was a long relationship of seven years between a sufficiently matured and educated couple.

"Additionally, the victim who was the best possible person to prove the allegations against the accused has resiled completely as she stated unequivocally that no promise of marriage was extended to her, sounding a death knell for the case," the court said.

It acquitted the accused, saying the prosecution miserably failed to prove the charges.